The journey from a cashmere goat on the Ordos Plateau to a finished luxury sweater in a European boutique involves more than a dozen distinct production stages, each requiring specialised equipment, skilled operators, and rigorous quality control. Understanding this journey — and the points at which quality can be gained or lost — is essential knowledge for buyers who want to make informed decisions about the cashmere they source.
At Fudong, every stage of this journey is controlled in-house. This vertical integration is not merely an operational convenience — it is the foundation of the quality consistency and supply chain transparency that our partners depend on.
The production journey begins on the Ordos Plateau in spring, when ALBAS white cashmere goats undergo their annual moult. Experienced herders use traditional hand-combing techniques to remove the fine undercoat — the cashmere — from the coarser outer guard hair. This process, which takes place over a period of two to three weeks, yields the raw cashmere that will eventually become yarn and finished garments.
Through our upstream partner, Ordos Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Investment and Development Co., Ltd, Fudong maintains established relationships with herding communities across the ALBAS region. These relationships — built over more than two decades — provide priority access to the finest raw fibre and the supply chain traceability that our partners require. Raw fibre is purchased directly from herders, eliminating intermediary traders and the quality dilution that can occur when fibre from multiple sources is blended without documentation.
Raw cashmere arrives at our facility containing a mixture of fine undercoat fibre, coarser guard hair, vegetable matter, and other contaminants. The first production stage is sorting and grading — a labour-intensive process in which skilled workers separate fibre by fineness, length, and colour.
ALBAS white cashmere is prized for its natural white colour, which allows it to be dyed to any shade without the colour-masking required for grey or brown fibre. Our grading process separates white fibre from off-white and cream, ensuring that the highest-grade white fibre is reserved for orders requiring the most precise colour matching.
Dehairing is the process of mechanically separating the fine cashmere undercoat from the coarser guard hair. This is one of the most technically demanding stages of cashmere processing — the goal is to remove as much guard hair as possible without damaging the fine cashmere fibres. Fudong operates German and Italian dehairing machinery that achieves a dehaired cashmere purity of 99%+ — a specification that is critical for producing fine-gauge yarn with consistent quality.
Dehaired cashmere is washed to remove natural oils, dirt, and any remaining vegetable matter. The washing process uses carefully controlled water temperatures and pH levels to clean the fibre without damaging its natural crimp and softness. Fudong's closed-loop water treatment system recycles wash water and treats effluent to environmental standards — an investment that reflects our commitment to sustainable production and compliance with OEKO-TEX requirements.
Dyeing is the stage at which the natural white cashmere fibre is transformed into the 72 certified colourways that Fudong offers. Our dyeing facility uses German eco-friendly dye systems that produce consistent, reproducible colour results while meeting OEKO-TEX Standard 100 requirements for chemical safety.
Colour consistency is one of the most technically demanding aspects of cashmere production. A slight variation in dye concentration, water temperature, or processing time can produce a perceptible colour difference between batches — a problem that is unacceptable for buyers who need to match colours across production runs or combine garments from different batches in retail displays. Fudong's computerised colour management system measures and records the spectrophotometric profile of every dye batch, enabling precise colour matching and batch-to-batch consistency.
Dyed cashmere fibre is spun into yarn using ring-spinning or open-end spinning processes, depending on the yarn count and end-use specification. Fudong produces both coarse-spun yarn (for 3GG–7GG knitwear) and fine-spun yarn (for 12GG–18GG knitwear), with annual capacity of 300+ tons of coarse-spun and 100+ tons of fine-spun yarn.
Yarn count — expressed in Nm (metric count) or Ne (English count) — determines the weight and gauge of the finished fabric. Our technical team works with buyers to specify the precise yarn count required for their product specifications, and our quality control laboratory tests every production batch for count, twist, strength, and evenness before release.
For buyers sourcing finished garments rather than yarn, Fudong's manufacturing partner Baotou Fangyuan Cashmere Products Co., Ltd handles knitting, linking, and assembly. Our knitting facility operates flat-bed knitting machines across the full gauge range from 3GG to 18GG, producing sweaters, cardigans, scarves, shawls, and accessories to buyer specifications.
Every finished garment undergoes a multi-stage quality inspection: dimensional checking against approved specifications, visual inspection for knitting defects, hand-feel assessment, and — for export orders — compliance checking against destination market requirements. Garments that do not meet specification are returned for rework or rejected — a zero-tolerance approach to quality that reflects the standards our luxury brand partners expect.
The final production stages — washing, pressing, steaming, and packaging — transform the knitted garment into the finished product that the end consumer will experience. Fudong offers custom packaging solutions including branded tissue paper, hang tags, garment bags, and gift boxes — enabling buyers to receive finished goods ready for retail display or direct-to-consumer shipment without additional handling.
This end-to-end capability — from raw fibre procurement through to branded retail-ready packaging — is what distinguishes a vertically integrated supplier from a trading company or a single-stage manufacturer. It is the foundation of the supply chain control, quality consistency, and documentation completeness that serious buyers in the premium cashmere market require.